The Loaves and Fishes Community Food Bank in Nanaimo is set to drive a truck full of food along the 90-kilometre detour route to Port Alberni this morning to help food banks and soup kitchens under stress.
It will be the first time since the Cameron Bluffs wildfire closed Highway 4 on June 6 that the food bank has been able to make its daily trip to Port Alberni to pick up groceries from Quality Foods and drop off supplies at the high school, the Port Alberni Shelter Society and the Salvation Army.
“From the people I know, it’s been pretty panicky there,” Alex Counsell, director of operations, said Wednesday. “I know food and fuel are getting there now, but I also know that the grocery stores there have been running out of things. We are going to be bringing quite a bit of food there tomorrow.”
In Port Alberni, Salvation Army Major Michael Ramsay said he can’t wait for the truck to arrive.
“We are so looking forward to that,” said Ramsay. “Food and necessities haven’t been able to get into town. Our supplies have been down by about 25 per cent already. A lot of where we get some of our food is from the grocery stores and there just isn’t enough coming in.”
The Bread of Life soup kitchen and the Alberni Valley Salvation Army Community Food Bank feed about 800 people a day. It’s been a bit of a challenge, said Ramsay, but so far they’ve been able to keep feeding everybody even with slightly higher demand.
“Some of the things we really need are fresh fruit and fresh produce to make sure people are having their dietary needs met,” he said.
In Tofino, meanwhile, Mayor Dan Law said there’s so much food, people are having to throw it out.
“There’s nobody here,” said Law. “The food bank is absolutely loaded. I visited today and businesses are having to unload their food because we have tonnes of supply but not nearly the amount of visitors.”
Businesses are trying to put things on sale to encourage people to buy so food won’t be thrown out, he said.
The highway, which connects Port Alberni, Tofino and Ucluelet with the rest of Vancouver Island, was closed as a result of debris dropping on the road from the wildfire and isn’t expected to reopen to single-lane, alternating traffic until the weekend of June 24, with full reopening not anticipated until mid-July.
A 90-kilometre gravel detour route from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni is being used to bring in food, fuel and other vital supplies. Four commercial vehicle convoys carrying essential goods and services are making the trip each day.
On Wednesday morning, a convoy of eight fuel trucks made the trip from Lake Cowichan to Port Alberni, said Janelle Staite, deputy director for the Ministry of Transportation’s south coast region.
The ministry has vehicles on the ground from its maintenance contractor and has been given the OK by the B.C. Wildfire Service to start some cleanup below the fire slope, she said.
Just before 1 p.m. Wednesday, the Port Alberni Fire Department responded to a two-vehicle crash about 32 kilometres south of Port Alberni on Bamfield Road.
Port Alberni deputy fire chief Wes Patterson said it was a head-on collision but no extrication was required for occupants of either vehicle.
The Cameron Bluffs wildfire has decreased over the past few days and is not expected to spread, the B.C. Wildfire Service said Wednesday.
“It’s still burning. It’s not completely under control but we’re not seeing any significant activity that could lead to it spreading significantly and aggressively,” said information officer Shaelee Stearnes.
A more accurate mapping of the wildfire shows it is now an estimated 226 hectares in size, down from 250 hectares a few days ago.
Despite a rise in temperature throughout the day Monday, the fire did not increase in activity or size, said Stearnes.
Three helicopters and 104 firefighters are battling the wildfire, which is now a smouldering ground fire.
“You can see a little bit of smoke coming off the fire, but the active fire is within some of the larger trees. One of the reasons those trees might be felled is because the fire will burn up through the root system and into the core of the tree and cause them to become a hazard,” said Stearnes.
Fire crews are continuing to cut down danger trees along the Highway 4 corridor. They are also reinforcing control lines and mopping up around the fire.
— With a file from Michael J. Lo
